Pelagic working voyages interspersed with local patch and occasional twitch birding news

Monday, 27 February 2012

Classic Cory's!

After a spot of lunch I resumed my watch on the aft deck. After 20 minutes or so a few gulls congregated over the towed gear, wheeling and dipping into the wave troughs. Suddenly a much more dashing bird fell into a wave trough in my line of sight, only to disappear before I could get my bins on it. It reappeared further to my left, this time banking in a high arc over the wave crest showing white underwings with a dark border- shearwater sp.! Although I again lost the bird in the wave troughs for 10 or 15 seconds I eventually got my trusted Opticrons on it and immediately recognised it as a Cory's shearwater- brilliant! I watched the bird for a minute or so, trying to anticipate where it would reappear from behind the swell and wave crests. Amazingly it started shearing towards the ship so I even managed to shoot off a couple of frames- not startling images but considering the moving platform, distance and light I think they are good enough to show the I/D features. During the next two hours I counted a further 10 or 11 of these lovely birds. For me the sight of a large shearwater working its way in a stiff breeze through white-cap conditions epitomises what sea watching is all about! Happy days!

About Me

My formative birding years were spent primarily at CVL, Portland, Marazion and PG. I have lived in Mullion, St. Ives, Plymouth, Bristol and Aberdeen. I studied for a first degree in Plymouth and a masters in Aberdeen. Since the late nineties I have worked as a sea-going scientific observer/surveyor specialising in fisheries, seabirds and marine mammals. I've worked in many of the worlds' oceans from South Georgia to Greenland and from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean. In the south Atlantic I monitored albatross mortality within commercial fishing fleets and have also undertaken extensive seabird surveys off Greenland, in UK waters, the Med. and in the central Indian ocean. I am a JNCC ESAS certified seabird surveyor, JNCC certified marine mammal observer, certified CCAMLR scientific observer and a regional tuna fisheries observer.
I'm not a photographer! - just a birder who takes photo's as and when birds present themselves- my camera is often in 'auto' mode!
I enjoy the company and dialogue of birders, naturalists and people who love the sea- many of whom I have been fortunate to meet in the field.